Happy 46th

Good grief! I have a 46 year old daughter. She's a wonderful person, very capable and doing well in her job and raising her family. She's even nice to her parents. 😉

I put this photo on her card, from her first summer. We were at the cottage with her grandparents. I love this shot with her grandfather, his dog, and Sue.

Refresher for Danica

Danica has done a little skating before but not much and it has been awhile.

With a class event coming up (today), she wanted to get out there ahead of time and get a little instruction from her hockey-playing friend.

You will see that she isn't a natural, but she gives it a good try.



And just a few pre-skate photos for the record.

Sue's Christmas Bell

Starting around mid-November, Sue dons her Christmas bell to sound a joyful note wherever she goes.



It's actually a bear bell that she purchased in the Rockies way back in 2000. The notion out there is to wear it to warn off bears when you're in the wild, but it's probably just a fun souvenir for tourists.

Sue has made excellent use of this souvenir and has brought it out every Christmastime ever since, leaving happiness in her wake. Which is pretty well what she does anyway.

I find it almost unBEARably cute.

Christmas Cookies

Although she no longer bakes her own from scratch, Sue still ices Christmas cookies, many of which are given away. I don't help with this because I am hopeless. But when Sue did a batch on Saturday, she found it very hard on her back. So, she invited the kids over for a session on Sunday.

There were all sorts of options.

She even had some of those special decorating squeezies available.

I did a couple just to join in, and Shauna may have been laughing at my pathetic attempts in this photo.

JJ is in grade 4, and I told him that was when I realized that I have no artistic ability. I wasn't joking, for I remember this quite distinctly. But he did just fine. Whatever our differences, JJ and I invoke our tongues in similar fashion when concentrating.

Of course, Danica gave me a cutest look.

Sue added a few to the collection.

Shauna did the most and the best and kept at it when the rest of us had packed it in.

Eventually and especially with Shauna's sticktoitiveness, the trays were full.

How to Park

As I begin to be more housebound in winter (and it is winter here, no matter what the calendar says), blog fodder becomes scarcer. As Christmas approaches, even JJ's hockey is winding down with a three-week break although he has some practices scheduled..So, yesterday, when I chose to consider how people park, I decided that something was better than nothing. You are free to disagree.

I went to Cat Lady's Christmas bake sale yesterday. She was doing a good amount of trade in the corridors of local high school, but there was still plenty of space in the parking lot.

It surprised me, however, how many cars had backed into their space so that they could drive straight out when it was time to depart. But I chose to drive straight in and back out.

For me, it makes sense to back out into the bigger space rather than trying to align the car by backing into the smaller parking space. I just don't get that concept although I'm sure there must be occasions when it works best that way.

Maybe if my neck swivelled better, I would feel somewhat differently, but even then, I think backing out into the bigger space would be easier than into the smaller space.

Recently, when I came home in the rain with a load of groceries, I chose to back into our driveway to be nearer the door and managed to drive over the snow-remover's sign in the process. Because I drive an SUV-style vehicle and have that stiff neck to boot, I failed to see that obscure sign.

Mind you, I don't have a backup camera. I had access to one once and managed to get the car into a pretty small space quite handily all by myself. If I had tried that in my own camera-less vehicle, I would have required much outside guidance.

Certainly, in a parking lot, if I can possibly manage to drive into a space that I can drive out of directly, I will do it. In fact, I will go to the outer end of the parking lot in order to do just that. But if such a space eludes me, I do drive in and back out. It's just easier for me.

What is your preference, and if you're a backer-inner and driver-outer, what is your reasoning?

Sue's Prize

Almost two years ago, I posted the following photo and more in this post, The Amazing Sue and the Amazing Afghan.

It was a complicated and involved piece, so I had Sue do a guest blog explaining the process: The Afghan Explained.

If you weren't here then and/or are interested in this sort of work, you are invited to go back to those two links above, particularly the second and read all about it.

That afghan was given to Shauna, but the next year (last winter), Sue decided to crochet another. I meant to post about it at the time but never got around to it. Sue thought that it would make an enjoyable winter project, and it did. Besides, it would be nice for her to have one too. I think a second reason is that possibly someday both grand children could have one.

But come this year, Sue decided to give hers away — to the cat lady.

There is a lady in town who functions as her own personal humane society and rescues all sorts of cats. She has them vetted, inoculated and neutered. The cats who are not suitable to be homed are placed in well tended rural barns and still cared for. But most cats are able to be passed on to forever homes.

Of course, this is at great cost and this year the vet bills came to $65 000.

So, she fundraises. For example, next weekend, she will run a seasonal bake sale in the local high school. But she has also just had her Christmas auction. I donated a framed photo which brought in just a little money. Our friend donated some cartoonish cat paintings, which people loved. They did very well at the auction.

But I guess you know where this is headed. Yes, Sue donated the afghan that she made last year. The cat lady held a raffle and sold 100 tickets for $10 apiece. There were four other prizes to be one, but everyone coveted Sue's afghan, and, unsurprisingly, it was the prize that was claimed by the winner.

Sue's work resulted in the bulk of cat lady raising $1000 for her wonderful work. I think both of these ladies are fantastic.

Meanwhile, Sue is working diligently on the third iteration of the amazing peppermint afghan, and I wonder about its destiny.

Home Tournament

More hockey. It's winter in Canada after all.

JJ's team had their home tournament yesterday, a one day event that had them playing three games. They won two, lost one, and finished in 3rd place. The team that they lost to was really really strong: good size with excellent skaters and stickhandlers.

JJ had a tumble in the first game. I like how the ice/snow kicks up.

The goalie led the celebration after the first win.

The boys were a bit over-powered in the second game with much action around their net.

Goal for the other team

Despite being very busy in that game, the goalie enjoyed a relaxing moment with the puck in the other zone.

Third Game: and a chance to drive the play more. 

When the referee points like that, it's a goal. And the players' stick are raised in celebration. They scored a lot and won handily.

Traditionally, there is a team photo on the ice after winning the final game of a tournament, but there was a bit of a mix-up, so I was asked to take one in the small dressing room. With a long lens it was difficult to get back far enough to get the whole team in. Ironically, it is my own grandson who was cut off on the right.

But I did get this photo of JJ all alone but still in action.